Trying to be original when buying gifts can often be difficult, but for 52-year-old Daphne Page it turned out to be pretty much a nightmare. The Virginia woman bought an Alarm Clock, designed to look a lot like dynamite, which led to a five-hour incident in a Richmond shopping mall, along with a felony explosives charge.

Dynamite alarm clock spotted in car at shopping mall

As reported by the Sacramento Bee, the incident happened on Friday at the Whole Foods shopping center in Glen Allen, after a store employee spotted the alarm clock in the back of Page’s Mercedes station wagon.

Believing it to be an explosive device, the store then called the police.

Henrico Police Lieutenant B.T. Wilson said when officers arrived on the scene they found the “explosive device” and to them, it appeared to be the real deal, leading them officials set up a perimeter. Reportedly police shut down the parking lot for around five hours as officials fetched in a robot to disable the “bomb.” However, the store remained open, but with one entrance closed.

Alarm clock bought by Virginia woman as a joke gift

As reported by CBS6, Page told them she bought the alarm clock at a garage sale in Richmond because she thought it was really funny.

She paid $1 for the clock, which she was planning to give to her daughter as a joke gift, saying she thought the college girl would find it amusing. Page then left the dynamite alarm clock in the back of her vehicle, not thinking what might happen.

However, the Virginia mother now says she feels really dumb, while interviewed on Saturday in the Henrico jail and she apologized to the public for the inconvenience at the shopping mall.

Page added that she didn’t think anything of it when she left it in her Mercedes car, saying if the item is available in a market and is legal to sell, why wouldn’t it be legal for her to own it? She did, however, question the judgment of the store employee who decided to walk past her car and report the “explosive device.”

The Sacramento Bee performed an Internet search for the keywords “alarm clock dynamite” which brought up several images of a similar type of alarm clock, some of which were obviously funny, but others did appear to look like a genuine bomb.

Felony possession charge for dynamite alarm clock

While the purchase of the gift was made in fun, Page has been charged with the felony possession, manufacture or use of an explosive. While officials did eventually establish the alarm clock was not really a bomb, under the Virginia statute, the felony charge also relates to hoax explosive devices, where the design and look of the item makes it look like a bomb or other explosive device. Due to the seriousness of the charge, Page will remain in Henrico Jail over the weekend and will appear before a judge on Monday.
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